


Status Infirmos - Mortem

by insomniacitizen (Callophilia)



Series: Status Verse [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Reader Whump, Reader dies, but you get better, protective chocobos, reader - Freeform, reader/chocobos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 05:23:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20353078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callophilia/pseuds/insomniacitizen
Summary: You are not from Eos, and you react to status ailments more severely and longer than any Eos native.Ignis/Reader, hurt and comfort





	Status Infirmos - Mortem

I’m fighting a giant rooster, you think to yourself. It’s odd but you admit to that you’ve seen odder since you arrived here, and keep swinging your blade. It’s a sunny day, and you’re getting hotter, the sword in hand harder to keep up as your arms weaken and the world tilts a little. You flinch and feel ten times worse for it, but keep pushing through as you slice at a chickatrice. The momentum of your blade throws you off balance, and you fall down on one knee.

“______!” Ignis shouts from somewhere far away. You push yourself up with your sword, and shake your head to clear the fog and make the world come in to focus again.

“I’m not- I’m not too good…” You breathe out. The blurry world around you swirls like a Van Gough, the colours melting and flexing in greens and blues. You flinch again, except somewhere in the back of your mind you realise it’s more of a convulsion than a flinch.

And then sky is all you can see, a swirl of white and blue with the tree tops bleeding green like ink on a wet watercolour painting.

Ignis sees you fall, completely dead weight back on to the grass, and he throws Prompto an antidote, barely dodging the cockatrice, “Prompto, ______ needs help!”

“Right!” He catches the antidote and runs to your side, and he knows instantly that something isn’t right. Pouring the antidote in to your mouth is easy, and he watches cautiously as he waits for you to sit up, safe and cured.

You gasp and relief floods him, except it’s short lived as he realises with mounting horror that you’re in a lot more pain. You scrunch your eyes shut and cry out, nails digging in to the mud as your whole body tenses.

“IGNIS!” All three men fighting the cockatrice turn at Promptos scared shout, and see you haven’t gotten up yet.

“Give it everything we’ve got!” Their mounted and combined attack finishes the bird in seconds and before its body even hits the floor they’re running over to you and Prompto.

“What happened?” Ignis drops to his knees by your side, eyes roving your tense body for injuries that could hint at another issue, but he sees none. However he sees your breathing has become shallow and rapid, and there are tears in your shut eyes.

“I gave her the antidote, but it made her worse! Are you sure you gave me the right thing?” Prompto holds out the bottle, and yes Ignis is sure it’s the right bottle.

“Shit.” He looks up and down your body frantically, racking his mind at what to do as scenario after scenario and possible solutions pass through his mind. “Fucking shit!”

“Guys.” you sob out through the pain, letting them know you can hear them and asking for a solution all at once. The pain takes your breath away and you panic even more because Ignis is panicking.

“Ignis, calm down, what’s happening?” Noctis presses, trying his best to remain calm and in charge when his team is struggling.

“Antidote is a poison.” He turns his supply bag upside down, eyes and hands roving over the contents as he thinks aloud. “It’s how all antidotes are made. But this antidote isn’t strong enough for ______. We just gave them another dose of poison!” He’s not thinking straight, he can hear your strained whimpers and breathing as thoughts rush through his mind. What can he do? He pulls out a remedy and weighs it in his hand as he considers possible outcomes.

“I don’t know what to do…”

You arch your back and scream out, voice cracking and echoing in the clearing.

“IGNIS.” Gladio roars.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!” He’s looking between the bottle in his hand and you, “This could cure ______ but it could damn well kill them too!”

“Well you’ve got to do something!” Prompto urges from your other side, hand holding yours as you squeeze his through the pain. Your grip around his starts to loosen, and he panics as you start to go limp, your breathing is still shallow but alarmingly slow. “Guys!”

Ignis puts the bottle at your lips, hesitating only for a moment as he looks at your face, sees your eyes are completely unfocused and dull, and tips the contents in to your mouth. He regrets it immediately as you start to convulse, body shaking and only the whites of your eyes visible as they roll back.

“No, no, no, NO!” Ignis is scattering the bottles and poultices across the grass and he looks frantically through, his hand hovers over the one thing that could make this right, but it’s one of the worst choices he has to make, and he’s so lost.

“Ignis what do we do?”

“Don’t restrict them.” His voice is cold now, devoid of any emotion as he looks at the orange feather laying in the grass, “Let it pass.”

“______’s dying Ignis, look at them!” The challenge comes from Gladio, and he’s obviously disturbed and itching to do something to help. 

“There’s nothing else to do Gladio. I failed ______, I should have considered every possibility, taken every precaution. They have to die now because of my failings. It’s only then that we can use a phoenix down on them, their body needs to completely reset. They have to die.”

Prompto looks between his friends, sees Gladios angry glare at Ignis, who is watching your convulsions slow: He’s holding on to your wrist, feeling your pulse weaken. Noctis speaks up, unsure but facing facts.

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“It has to work.” Ignis spits.

“But what if it doesn’t?” Promptos voice is quiet, and he looks down at your still body, only barely seeing the rise and fall of your chest. He’s holding on to your hand still.

Ignis doesn’t answer, focused intently on your pulse, while doing his best to ignore the rock at the bottom of his stomach along with the mounting guilt and the ‘Yes Ignis, what if it doesn’t work’, whispering at the back of his mind.

He’s counting the seconds between your heartbeat, and the time between grows longer and longer until it stops beating altogether. Grabbing the phoenix down he pushes it in to your hand, curling your fingers around it roughly, and for a moment nobody breathes, and the feather does nothing.

Nothing.

“Come on… Come on ______!” Ignis hisses, holding your fist tightly.

Nothing.

The feather goes up in flames and you take a deep breath in, before groaning.

Your eyes open to a bright sky, and around you the guys are subtly wiping their eyes, relieved smiles on their faces.

“Hey what’s wrong, where’s the funeral?”

Gladio gives a small laugh and a gruff “Not fucking here.”

“Oh, right… Status ailment.” You sit up slowly, Ignis’ hand on your back.

“Steady now.”

Groaning you sit up, a wave of exhaustion and dizziness rolls through your head and you promptly pass out. Prompto’s hand joins Ignis’ on your back, gently lowering you back down.

“What happened?” Noct is pale and looks exhausted from the whole ordeal, but then the whole group does.

“They’re alright, it’s all just taken a toll on their body. They’ll ache in the morning.”

If you’d heard Ignis you would be agreeing with him. You woke up in a caravan bedroom, the dim light of morning painting the walls a soft orange as it slips through the thin curtain over the window. Sitting up with a groan you gingerly rub your aching limbs, and notice something tied around your wrist.

“You’re awake.” Ignis slips in and closes the door softly behind him with a click, and takes a seat on the bed next to yours. He studies you, gaze roving over the dark circles under your eyes, the bruises over your body, and the ginger way you hold yourself. “… I’m so sorry ______.”

You look him over, and realise he has a bit of scruff on his chin, his hair is slightly disheveled, and his clothes ruffled and dirty: He hasn’t taken care of himself. “You’re not blaming yourself, are you Iggy?”, your voice has a slight warning tone that’s not lost in the cracking of your sore throat.

“Of course I am, I should have thought, should have taken precautions against poison, should have had you stay back, shouldn’t have given you the damned antidote or remedy!” You wince as his voice ends with a growl, “I’m a blasted idiot and I nearly got you killed.”

“You saved my life.” You held up a hand as he looked up at you with a frown on his face and a rebuttal on his lips. “No, you did. Poison on its own would probably have done me in, and yea the remedy made things worse but you did what you thought was best, and in the end you saved me with a phoenix down. I’m alive. You did that, and I’m sure that cancels out everything else. In fact it does, I’m the one who nearly died and I decree it so, so it’s a fact now.”

“How can you forgive this so easily?”

“Because you’re my friend, and I know you’ll always have my back like I have yours.” You place your hand on his, noticing the pink ribbon tied delicately around your wrist again. “What is this?”

“It’s a ribbon, it nullifies all status ailments.” He says bashfully, “We sent for one through Dave. We thought prevention would work better than a cure.”

Gladio shouts from the other side of the door, “And you’re never taking it off again!”


End file.
